The Abandoned Projects: Episode 6 - Exploring the History of the 155th Street Subway Station

Описание: Disclaimer:

The majority of my videos that feature so-called “abandoned” areas within the New York City subway system do not consist of footage personally recorded by me. This material was obtained from a number of urban explorers and retired transit employees whose identities are withheld for confidentiality and safety reasons.

Accessing these locations without proper authorization constitutes trespassing and is both unlawful and illegal. I strongly discourage anyone from attempting to enter or explore these areas without official permission.

Information:

155th Street–8th Avenue is the lone station in Manhattan on the IND Concourse Line, located after the line branches from the main Central Park West trunk and just before it enters the three-track Concourse tubes beneath the Harlem River into the Bronx. Although the Concourse Line consists of three tracks, the station itself is configured with two side platforms. It is also unique in Manhattan in that it is skipped by a specific subway service during peak-direction rush hours: the D train, when B trains are extended from their normal weekday terminus at 145th Street to Bedford Park Boulevard.

The station’s name is somewhat misleading. A more geographically accurate designation would be 155th Street–Frederick Douglass Boulevard, as 8th Avenue is known as Central Park West north of 59th Street and does not resume the name “8th Avenue” until south of Central Park. North of 110th Street, the avenue is officially named Frederick Douglass Boulevard.

The station feels dramatically overbuilt for its current level of use, featuring a full-length mezzanine that leads to only a single street exit. To an uninformed passenger, the station’s unusual scale and abundance of stairways might seem excessive. However, this design makes sense when viewed in historical context. From the opening of the IND Concourse Line on July 1, 1933, until December 1963, the station served the Polo Grounds, once home to the New York Giants. After the stadium’s demolition, the massive passenger flows the station was designed to accommodate vanished, leaving behind infrastructure built for crowds that no longer exist.

The station’s sole entrance and exit is particularly striking: a quadruple-wide staircase leading up to Frederick Douglass Boulevard (formerly 8th Avenue). This entrance sits adjacent to public housing and dead-ends north of the station at ramps feeding into the Harlem River Drive. Just south of the station, the elevated viaduct carrying 155th Street spans the valley between Coogan’s Bluff and the Macombs Dam Bridge.

From street level, the entrance leads to a second, slightly angled quadruple-wide staircase, followed by a short downward-sloping ramp that opens into a small fare control area. The token booth is positioned at the center of the mezzanine, with fencing enclosing the fare control area on three sides. Beyond this, the mezzanine opens up to multiple staircases descending to the platforms. A High Exit Turnstile is located near the northernmost staircase on the Bronx-bound platform to facilitate faster exits.

Further along, fencing blocks off the remainder of what was once a full-length mezzanine. Despite being partially closed, the station retains an unusually large number of staircases—many of which have been abandoned for more than six decades. Each side platform has three staircases leading to the portion of the mezzanine that remains open, while additional staircases have been sealed off: five on the uptown platform and four on the downtown platform. All but one have been encased in black-painted metal sheeting, giving them an even more strikingly abandoned appearance. The lone exception, located at the southern end of the downtown platform, connects via a fenced doorway to an abandoned mezzanine area that was later repurposed for police use.

Architecturally, the station features the long, narrow white brick-style tiling characteristic of the IND Concourse Line, visible throughout both the platforms and mezzanine. The station name tablets read “155th St–8th Ave” in white lettering on a dark background, framed by an orange border. The trim line mirrors this color scheme, featuring an orange band with a black border and small “155” tile markers placed at regular intervals.

Ultimately, the station’s complexity and oversized design are direct remnants of its original purpose: serving the Polo Grounds Houses and, more importantly, the tens of thousands of fans attending games at the Polo Grounds. What remains today is a fascinating, overbuilt relic of New York City’s transit and sports history.

Thanks for watching and as always, don’t forget to like, share, comment, and subscribe if you enjoy uncovering hidden stories from the subway system. Until next time happy commuting.

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